Origins
The word 'commission' is built from two of Latin's most versatile elements: the prefix 'com-' (together, with) and the verb 'mittere' (to send, to let go, to release). The compound 'committere' meant 'to bring together,' 'to join,' 'to entrust,' and 'to perpetrate' — a notably wide range unified by the idea of sending things (or people, or responsibilities) together. The noun 'commissio' (a joining together, an entrusting) entered English through Old French 'commission' in the fourteenth century.
The semantic breadth of 'commission' in English reflects the multiple senses of its Latin ancestor. As a noun, it means: (1) a formal instruction or authorization ('the officer received a commission'); (2) a body of people entrusted with a particular task ('the European Commission'); (3) a fee paid to an agent for conducting a transaction ('a 10% commission'); (4) the act of commissioning a work of art or service ('the painting was a commission'). As a verb, it means to formally order or authorize something.
All these senses share the underlying concept of entrusting — placing something in someone's hands with the authority to act. A military commission entrusts an officer with authority. An art commission entrusts an artist with a creative task. A sales commission compensates the person entrusted with making a sale. A government commission is a group entrusted with investigating or managing something.
Latin Roots
The Latin verb 'mittere' is one of the most productive in the English lexicon. Its past participle 'missus' and its various compounds have given English: 'mission' (a sending), 'missile' (a thing sent), 'emission' (a sending out), 'admission' (a sending toward), 'dismiss' (to send away), 'permission' (a sending through, a letting pass), 'submit' (to send under), 'transmit' (to send across), 'remit' (to send back), 'intermit' (to send between, to pause), 'omit' (to send by, to let go past), 'permit' (to let through), and 'promise' (to send forth, to put forward).
The relationship between 'commission,' 'commit,' and 'committee' illuminates how a single Latin verb spawned three words with distinct but related meanings. 'Commit' preserves the verb directly: to entrust ('commit to memory'), to join in the sense of performing ('commit a crime'), or to pledge ('commit to a course of action'). 'Committee' is the group of people to whom something has been committed — the entrusted body. 'Commission' is the act or instrument of entrusting, or the entrusted body itself.
The financial sense of 'commission' — a percentage paid to an intermediary — developed by the seventeenth century. The logic is clear: the agent is entrusted ('commissioned') with making a sale, and the fee is compensation for that trust. In modern commerce, 'commission' has become so associated with this financial sense that many people encounter the word primarily in the context of sales and real estate.
Later History
The military sense — 'a commission' as the document conferring officer rank — dates from the sixteenth century. A commissioned officer is one who holds authority by formal entrusting (a commission from the monarch or head of state), as opposed to a non-commissioned officer, whose authority comes from promotion through the ranks. The distinction between 'commissioned' and 'non-commissioned' encodes a fundamental difference in the source of military authority.
In art and architecture, 'commission' refers to a patron's order for a specific work. The Sistine Chapel ceiling was a commission from Pope Julius II to Michelangelo. This usage preserves the word's oldest sense with particular clarity: the patron entrusts the artist with both the task and the resources to complete it.
The prefix 'com-' (together) is what distinguishes 'commission' from 'mission.' A mission is a sending; a commission is a sending-together — a more complex act that involves both delegation and trust, both authority and accountability.